Pretending To Be A Boss

"Its abilities have become even more numerous. Compared to the past few years, this squid has become much stronger," the distant sea monster commented.

Red Emperor did not speak. Its gaze was fixed on the very center of the arena, where no one knew what was happening because the pitch-black venom had obscured their vision.

The sight of the giant squid ferociously swinging its tentacles shocked every sea beast, even a mass of deep-sea cold iron would be reduced to powder under such offensive force.

Only Red Emperor kept watching the center of the battlefield without distraction.

"The giant squid, after all, is too weak."

"This is still considered weak?" The sea monster was surprised.

"Do you still remember why our master became the strongest of all beasts?" Red Emperor said calmly.

"Of course I remember... Our master relied on no strength from the Soul Crystal. It depended solely on its own formidable physical toughness. Thus, besides the terrifying strength and speed, it also possessed great resistance to any power from the Soul Crystal. Nether Phoenix's realm was unbearable even for the beast gods, yet only our master could withstand it.

Even the judge's causality shattered under our master's powerful fist, and the time-space barrier of the Milky Way broke due to our master's punching wind.

Even the most elusive Lost God couldn't diminish our master's formidable destructive power."

Recalling that invincible figure, the sea monster's face bore an obsessed expression.

Red Emperor nodded and said:

"The tentacles of the giant squid are indeed powerful, but its reliance is ultimately on the power of the Soul Crystal. Its tentacles shatter everything not by the power to shatter all things but by the special abilities within the Soul Crystal. Its ink isolates the senses, which is also an ability from the Soul Crystal. These are indeed divine talents bestowed upon us, but the essence of survival lies in our own bodies."

After pausing, as the battlefield was on the verge of collapsing, Red Emperor continued:

"Watch, the giant squid will lose. Because it has encountered a being that pursues the same path as our master."

The sea monster shed its infatuated look and became shocked as this was the first time it had seen Red Emperor giving such high praise to another creature.

At that moment, an abrupt change occurred on the battlefield.

As the cloud of ink began to thin, all the sea beasts heard terrifying tearing sounds.

Even if one tentacle broke out of a hundred, it was difficult for the audience to notice when they were all swiftly moving together.

But Tang Xian noticed, staring in disbelief at the depths of the battlefield.

After the venom gradually diluted, the figure at the center of the arena gradually became visible.

The movements of that figure were so fast they were barely discernible, but Tang Xian could clearly see that the tentacles of the giant squid, supposedly capable of crushing any solid substance, were being torn apart one by one.

Initially, the colossal beasts watching couldn't see clearly. As more tentacles broke off, they finally realized—was that monstrous fellow still alive?!

After the giant squid's fearsome attack persisted for quite a while, Junlin's body did indeed sustain some injuries, and not light ones at that.

But its wounds were also gradually healing. This terrifying regenerative ability, though certainly not comparable to Tang Xian and Tang, was in no way inferior to the Dragon Clan known for their robust vitality.

The fact that it could endure the giant squid's offensive also evidenced Junlin's robust vitality and defensive power.

The tentacles that could easily crush metal being effortlessly torn apart by Junlin demonstrated its formidable attack power.

After half of the tentacles were torn apart by Junlin, the giant squid revealed an expression of terror.

It understood better than anyone that what it faced was a devil whose power far exceeded its own.

It wanted to flee. To flee the arena would mean defeat. Its speed was astonishingly fast.

But a shadow flashed by; ahead of it, within the boundaries of the arena, suddenly appeared another figure.

[Did you think you could escape with your slow pace?]

Like a torpedo smashing into an iceberg, Junlin's figure flashed again, tracing a black line straight through the red sea.

This line went straight through the squid's head, a burst of inky blood and fetid water exploding forth.

Junlin, having appeared on the other side, spread its wings and let out a terrifying laugh.

The scene was utterly shocking. The top-ranked Splitting Squid was easily killed in an instant.

Tang Xian had anticipated that this battle might end in Junlin's one-sided slaughter of the giant squid, but he never imagined the disparity in their strength would be this vast. Even though he had warned himself that Junlin might be the court's strongest weapon second only to the judge, he still underestimated Junlin's strength.

"Immune to poison, with an extremely strong physique, and possessing the greatest strength and speed I have ever seen. I'm afraid that even the Owl King among the Lei Xiao might not be as fast. Truly a troublesome opponent, but if such a powerful being exists, why didn't the court send it earlier to deal with me?"

Tang Xian felt that something was amiss.

"Junlin's strength is so great, yet he has no reputation at all, and he doesn't recognize me either. During the siege by the myriad of beasts, if they had sent him, even ten of my lives wouldn't have been enough. But the court did not dispatch him. Even when I was a guest at the holy mountain, I didn't sense his presence."

"Such a powerful creature, it's like it was created out of thin air..."

Tang Xian's pupils shrank, he suddenly thought of something.

"The Eden Tribe possesses the power to create all things, and once created many creatures together with humans, which is why there are so many beings in this world that resemble the monsters from the Classic of Mountains and Seas..."

"The Master of Eden has fallen, but what about that human? Could it be that the existence deep within the court's forbidden area is that human?"

Tang Xian quickly shook his head. He didn't have time to think about these questions in detail for now.

What he needed to do now was to plan in advance how to discreetly max out Junlin's resistances during the melee phase, as that was the most important thing.

In the distance, sea monsters have already started to spin the wheel, deciding the next challenger.

Tang Xian had a premonition that it would soon be his turn.

"Next, who do you plan to watch?" the sea monster asked.

Under the fierce onslaught of the slashing squid, the massive arena had already shattered. But under the gaze of the sea monster, the ghostly coral seemed to come to life, slowly filling in the cracks on the battlefield.

In a short while, the arena was renewed.

The gaze of the Red Emperor fell upon Tang Xian:

"That human."

"That's not a human. " The sea monster didn't believe that humans could come here. This issue had already been a point of contention between it and the Red Emperor.

The Red Emperor shook his head and said:

"Whether or not he's human, you'll know after you arrange a fight for him."

"Then let's make a bet to see if he'll reveal his real strength during this fight, transforming into a beast form."

Tang Xian was unaware that he was being arranged. However, when the sea monster announced his ranking number, he was not too surprised; he always felt it was going to be his turn.

The number eighty-two, such a late number, indeed did not attract much attention from the sea beasts.

They were still shocked by the terrifying strength displayed by Junlin in the previous fight.

Meanwhile, Tang Xian was thinking about how to conserve his strength.

According to the rules, the closest number he could challenge was number seventy-two.

Without much thought, Tang Xian chose number seventy-two.

Jumping ten ranks to challenge, which would have been a stunt if it were in the top fifty, seemed like mere bickering among the weak in ranks seventy and eighty, at least in the eyes of some superior sea beasts.

Tang Xian's opponent was an unknown crab. Its size wasn't too large, similar to Qing Jiuyu, Bai Mansheng's beast form, and its body was red all over.

It was just like a steamed hairy crab.

However, seeing the force with which the hairy crab wielded its claws, Tang Xian estimated that if he were hit by those pincers, even he would be in for a rough time.

Fortunately, there was no major problem, no need to panic.

Tang Xian was quite confident in dealing with this sea crab.

Now the question he was considering was in what manner he would achieve victory.

What Tang Xian did not know, was that he was not only being arranged, but very conspicuously so.

Because of his intention to hide his strength, he had caught the attention of the sea monster, and from then on, he would continually be in the spotlight.

"What if the crab loses but he still maintains his human form?" the Red Emperor asked.

"Then we continue to arrange for him. I don't believe that he can keep his true face hidden from start to finish," the sea monster said with wide eyes.